Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Maryland requires a special meeting with at least 10 days’ notice before a special assessment exceeding 15% of budget, and separately phases in a mandatory reserve study by county starting 2020-2022.
Key statute: Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109.2 (budgets/reserves); Md. Code, Real Property § 11-109.4 (reserve studies); Md. Code, Real Property § 11-110 (assessments/liens/interest)
How Maryland lets an association approve it
Routine annual budgets, which set regular assessments, are prepared and adopted by the council of unit owners rather than by a general owner vote: the council must submit a proposed budget to unit owners “at least 30 days before its adoption,” and “the budget shall be adopted at an open meeting of the council of unit owners.” A special or above-budget assessment triggers a specific statutory process: any expenditure not tied to a health-or-safety emergency that would raise the current year’s assessments by more than 15 percent of the previously adopted budget “shall be approved by an amendment to the budget adopted at a special meeting, upon not less than 10 days written notice to the council of unit owners.” Separately, the board has an override power for reserve funding specifically: it “has the authority to increase the assessment levied to cover the reserve funding amount required under [the reserve-study statute]… notwithstanding any provision of the declaration, articles of incorporation, or bylaws restricting assessment increases or capping the assessment.”
The notice you’re owed
For a special assessment that exceeds 15 percent of the budgeted amount, Maryland law requires the budget amendment to be adopted at a special meeting held on “not less than 10 days written notice to the council of unit owners” (health-or-safety emergency expenditures are exempt from this trigger). Separately, for financial-hardship deviations from required reserve funding, all unit owners must receive “reasonable notice in advance of a vote,” though the statute does not give a specific number of days for that notice.
Paying it: plan, interest, and late fees
Maryland law does not create a general statutory right to a payment plan for special assessments, though it does contemplate declaration- or bylaws-based installment plans for the annual assessment: if your declaration or bylaws already provide for paying the annual assessment in installments, they can also allow the council to demand the remaining balance if you miss one. Interest is capped: unpaid assessments or installments “bear interest, at the option of the council of unit owners, from the date when due until paid at the rate provided in the bylaws, not exceeding 18 percent per annum, and if no rate is provided, then at 18 percent per annum.” Bylaws may also add a late charge of “$15 or one tenth of the total amount of any delinquent assessment or installment, whichever is greater,” but it cannot be charged more than once per delinquent payment or until the delinquency has run at least 15 calendar days.
Unpaid assessments, interest, late charges, and collection costs can be enforced through a lien under the Maryland Contract Lien Act, and liens on units recorded after October 1, 2011 get limited priority over a first mortgage, capped at four months or $1,200 of regular assessments and excluding special assessments, interest, fines, and fees.
Does Maryland require a reserve study?
Yes, and it’s detailed. Maryland’s reserve-study mandate is codified separately from its assessment rules and has nothing to do with Florida’s SIRS law. A qualifying reserve study must, using an itemized list, identify “each structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing component of the common elements,” along with useful life, replacement cost, and the annual reserve funding needed. The requirement phases in by county and by the condominium’s formation date: condos formed in Prince George’s County on or after October 1, 2020, in Montgomery County on or after October 1, 2021, or in any other county on or after October 1, 2022, must have an independent reserve study completed at least 30 days before the required annual meeting, updated within 5 years and at least every 5 years after that. Older condominiums in each county face their own phased deadlines; for example, Prince George’s County condos formed before October 1, 2020 needed a study by October 1, 2021 if none had been done since October 1, 2016, with updates every 5 years after. Studies must be prepared by a qualified professional: a licensed architect or engineer, someone holding a Reserve Specialist or PRA designation, or someone who has completed 30 or more prior studies in the past 3 years. Required reserve funding must then match the amount recommended in the most recent study, subject to a two-thirds-vote financial-hardship exception.
Honest gaps
All facts here were verified against the official Maryland General Assembly statutory text, including the full reserve-study mandate. One minor gap: the professional-qualification requirements for who may prepare a reserve study were confirmed only through the first item of that list; the remainder of that subsection’s study-content and delivery requirements was not fully captured this session.
Source note. Read from https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp&enactments=false§ion=11-109.2 ; https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp&enactments=false§ion=11-109.4 ; https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=grp&enactments=false§ion=11-110 (all three fetched directly from the official Maryland General Assembly site this session) on September 4, 2026.
Related: HOA rules in a 55+ community · how a special-assessment foreclosure actually works · lump sum vs. a payment plan.
General information drawn from each state’s own statutes as read at its official legislature or code-publisher site (or a verbatim codified mirror where noted), not legal advice. Special-assessment law is state law, and every association’s own declaration and bylaws add rules on top of the statutory floor described here. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice.